about global mala

Each September, Sweet Om Alabama brings the yoga community together at the Global Mala for Peace Project. This annual event is held at Vulcan Park & Museum, where hundreds of participants gather to be led through 108 sun salutations by local teachers against the backdrop of the city skyline. Global Mala’s purpose is to unite yoga communities from every continent, school, and approach to form a “mala around the earth”. The mala, a garland constructed of 108 beads that is used during meditation, signifies the power a group can harness when individual intentions unite for the same cause.

Renowned yoga teacher Shiva Rea founded the Global Mala Project in 2007 with the intention of bringing together people, yoga, peace, and social change. A mala is a sacred garland of 108 prayer beads, and Global Mala can be thought of as a moving meditation or prayer done 108 times with a focus on harmony and bringing awareness to social issues, from grassroots to the globe.Sun Salutations are one of the most recognizable yoga sequences, and call upon the energy of the sun and the symbol of a circle to energize our physical, mental and emotional well-being as individuals and as members of this greater world.

Sweet Om Alabama unites Alabamians around yoga and giving back to the community, was born from Birmingham’s first Global Mala in 2007. Since Sweet Om Alabama’s inception, it has guided the event and its fund raising efforts. Today, there are more than 800 Global Mala events in more than 50 countries around the world.

Whether you are a long-time yoga practitioner or a newcomer, Sweet Om Alabama invites you to join in 108 sun salutations for peace. This year, funds raised will go toward Sweet Om Alabama’s community efforts, from training more yoga teachers to developing new yoga-based programs, to hosting community yoga classes and sharing the benefits of yoga at events throughout the state.